Car-brake



(No Model.) i I Y W. L. 86 E. A'. ANTRIM.

GAR BRAKE.

Patented July 21, 1891.

lllllllllllllllllllllHm U ITED STATE FFICE.

PATENT WILLIAM L. ANTRIM AND ELIAS A. ANTRIM, OF DAVENPORT, IOlVA.

CAR-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 456,130, dated July 21,1891.

Application filed March 16,1891.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, WILLIAM L. ANTRIM and ELIAS A. ANTRIM, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Davenport, in the county of Scott andState of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Safety-BrakeforStreet-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in brakes which ordinarily areonly used when the car is descending an incline too rapidly; and theobjects of our invention are, first, to provide shoes arranged to beplaced in frictional contactwith the upper surface of the rail and itsflange, and, second, to provide means whereby the end of the car may beelevated, so as to take the weight of the car off its end wheels andtransfer such weight upon the shoes. Te accomplish these objects by themechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1is a view in perspective of one end of a car-truck with our deviceattached; and Figs. 2,3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are enlarged views of detailparts, in section, of our device, which will be hereinafter fullyexplained.

Similar lettersand figures refer to similar parts throughout the severalviews.

A represents the rails or track of a streetrailway line.

B represents one end of a street-railway-car truck; 0, the frame-workfor the car-platform; D, a brake-beam; (Z cl, the shoe-brakes for thewheels attached to such brake-beam, and e c the rods suspending thebrake-beam to the car-truck.

Onrdevice is an attachment consisting of two shoes, one forward of eachwheel, in line above the rail, connected by a cross-bar, the rear end ofeach shoe connected with a bar, each of which is extended rearward andhinged to the brake-beam or car-truck, and further consists of avertical shaft passing through the car-platform, the lower end ofwhichl'enters the cross-bar in such manner that it can be rotatedtherein and elevate or depress such cross-bar, a middle portion of suchshaft being threaded to register with a threaded nut secured to suchcar-platform, through which it passes, and the upper end of which shaftis provided with a handle or other means to rotate it.

We will now describe what we deem the semi No. 385,309. (No niodel.)

middle part of such shaft is threaded, as at r 12. Attached to theunderside of the forward part of the platform-frame O is a nut 13,secured thereto by the bolts 14 and collar 15, and a register-i n gperforation is made through such frame. This is illustrated by thevertical sectional view shown in Fig. 2. The threaded portion of theshaft is supported in the nut, and by means of such threadedportions theshaft may be raised or lowered by rotating the same. The lower portionof the shaft is provided with a collar 16, integral therewith, a shank17, upon which is fitted awasher 18, which is held in position by thepin 19, passing through a perforation in such shank, as

shown in Fig. A curved cross -bar, its length being about the widthofthe distance from the outside of one rail to the other, is perforatedat about its center to receive the portion of the shaft 10 below thecollar 16,

and such cross-bar is held in position upon the shaft by the washer 17and pin 19, as shown in Fig. The shoe 21 is formed upon its under sideso as to conform to the upper surface of the rai.l,-if such rail isprovided with a flange, as at a.' Then the under portion of the shoe incross-section is made to conform to the same, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

The front end of the shoe 21 is curved upward slightly, as at 22, toavoid obstacles. In about the center of the upper-surface of each shoeis a threaded bolt 23, integral with such shoe, and at the rear end ofsuch shoe, integral therewith, are the parallel cars 24, which ears areperforated horizontally to accommodate a bolt 25. At each end of thecross-bar 20 are vertical perforations 26 for the accommodation of thethreaded bolt 23, by means of which and its nut 27 such shoe is securedto said cross-bar, as is fully shown in Fig. A plan view of the bottomof the shoe is shown in Fig. 5, aplan viewof the top of the same isshown in Fig. 6, a cross-section of such shoe is shown in Fig. 3, and aside view of such shoe is shown in Fig. 7. A plan view of the top ofabout one-half of the cross-bar isshown in Fig. 4. A U-shaped strap 28is bolted to the brake-beam D, near each end of the same, and each ofthe two bars 29 are at their rear IOO 2o backward therein.

ends forked, as at 30, the ends of the forks being connected bythecross-bar 31.,so that the U-shaped strap may pass between such forksand behind the crossbar, as shown in Fig. 7,

5 and the forward end of each bar 29 passes between the parallel cars:24 of each shoe, I such bars being horizontally perforated to receivethe ear-bolts-25, thus securing each of said bars to a shoe 21. It willbe observed that the shaft 10 is moved upward and downward in a verticalline, while the cross-barQO is moved upward and downward in a curvedline, and in order to accommodate these parts to move in unison weelongate the perforation through the cross-bar 20, which receives thehandle 11 in convenient position for use by the operative. \Vhen not inuse, the operative raises the shoes by means of rotating the shaft sothat they are held or suspended a few inches above the surface of therails A, and in using 0 our device he rotates such shaft in an oppositedirection, so as to force the shoes on the upper surface of the railssufiiciently to cause frictional contact and, if necessary, to raisethat end of the car so that the wheels at that 3 5 end are elevatedabove such rails.

It will be understood that ourdevice should be strong. \Ve prefer toconstruct the shoes and cross-bar of steel and the shaft of eitherwrought-iron or steel, with threads of sufficient strength to stand allstrain without breakage.

From the description given persons skilled in the art will readilyunderstand the construction and operation of our device, and it willalso be understood that many modifications and changes may be madetherein without departing from the scope of our invention.

hat we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a safety-brake for street-cars, the combination of the shoes inline above the rail, connected by a cross-bar, each shoe attached at itsrear end to a bar, each bar hinged at its opposite end to the brake-barof the car, the vertical and threaded shaft extending through thecar-platform, the threaded nut secured to such platform, through whichthe threaded portion of such shaft passes, and the lower end of suchshaft attached to the crossbar, whereby the shoes may be forced downwardupon the rails or elevated therefrom by rotating such shaft,substantially as described.

2. In a safety-brake for street-cars, the co1nbination of shoes hingedto the car in line above the rail and connected by a cross-bar, togetherwith a vertical screw-tln'eaded shaft passing through the car-platform,arranged to act upon such bar and force said shoes downward upon therails or to elevate them therefrom, substantially as described.

\VILLIAM L. ANTRIM. ELIAS A. ANlRlM.

VILDGSSGS' A. 1 MCGUIRK, XV. W. HUMPHREY.

